


Everything Has Its Time

by PaxEirene (ValaEnVash)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Pete's World, TARDIS - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 14:01:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 13,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14935655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValaEnVash/pseuds/PaxEirene
Summary: "As the Master began to regenerate, he stood entirely too close to The Doctor's severed hand and, as the energy explodes from his body, it engulfed the jar, reacting with the genetic material held within. The mixing of these two energies backfired spectacularly and The Master was inundated with memories. His own as well as The Doctor's."A rewrite of the end of "Utopia" (and further), because I think The Master got a raw deal.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally posted on fanfiction.net on March 6, 2012, and it's one of the few that I found that had not been moved to AO3. So, I tried to do some editing, some fixing, etc, and I got it to at least (I hope) all be in the same tense (because wow, past-self... wow).

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Chantho cowered before the man she once admired, now fearing for her own safety. Professor Yana, her friend and teacher, was gone. She could see the madness in this new man's eyes as he approached her with the sparking cable in hand.

"Did you never think," he growled, "all those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch? Never? Did you never once think, not ever, that you could set me free?"

Chantho, panicking, pointed her blaster at him and backed away slowly, never once taking her eyes from him.

"Chan, I'm sorry, tho! Chan, I'm so sorry!"

He sneered at her. "You… with your chan and your tho, driving me insane! "

"Chan, Professor, please…"

His face screwed up in fury as he screamed. "THAT IS NOT MY NAME! The Professor was an invention; so perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am."

Her back hit the wall, preventing any further escape, and the gun in her hand a distant memory. Her fear became a foul taste in her mouth as she begged, "Chan, then who are you, tho?"

A mad smile graced his features. "I… Am… The Master!"

He thrust his hand forward, electrocuting his former friend and assistant, her screams filling the room.

The Master dropped the cable and turned from Chantho's body, walking toward his treasure. A TARDIS. His now, to do with as he pleased.

Oh ho! And what is this! The Doctor's hand! Oh, this will be useful.

The sudden sound of the Doctor, Jack, and Martha pounding at the door to the laboratory, begging to let them in, prompted him to turn to the computer banks across the room. A single flick removed the guidance chip from the computer.

"Utopia," he sneered, marveling at the ignorance of these humans. So trusting and so full of hope.

So vile and disgusting.

He heard the Doctor begging him, louder now, to let them in, to not open the watch but ignored them in favor of the TARDIS and escape.

What the Master didn't see was Chatho, moving slowly and painfully reaching for the blaster she dropped.

The Master began to hurriedly pull the yards of power cables from the TARDIS, ignoring the pleas from his former friend. He almost wished he could stay to watch those bumbling idiots be torn limb from limb, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"Open the door, please. I'm begging you, Professor, please listen to me. Just open the door! Please!"

Chantho, in a last burst of strength, raised her arm high enough to aim at The Master as he turned and tossed the last of the cabling away from the TARDIS. She fired, hitting him in the chest, his cry of pain the last thing she heard before falling dead to the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a perspective shift in this chapter, and I'm sure you can tell, but the left-aligned is the Master and the right-aligned is the Doctor. But you knew that. ;)

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Outside of Professor Yana's lab, Jack smashed control panel to open the door, allowing the trio to rush in. The Doctor ran forward but could only watch as The Master shut and locked the TARDIS doors. To his horror, the Master deadlocked them further, rendering the Doctor’s key and sonic screwdriver useless.

To the Master's amusement, he could hear The Doctor pounding on the doors and begging, "Lemme in! LET ME IN!"

The Doctor's fear mounted further once Martha found Chantho dead and Jack unable to secure the lab doors.

"I'm begging you. Everything's changed. It's only the two of us; we're the only ones left! Just let me in!"

The Master held onto the TARDIS console, growing weaker by the second. "Killed by an insect. A  _girl_. How… inappropriate. Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I. The Master, reborn!"

The fires of regeneration consumed The Master's body, altering every cell.

The Doctor could hear The Master screaming through the pain and looks on in horror at the lights and flames flickering through the TARDIS windows.

The Future-kind finally made it to the lab door and began trying to force it open, determined to catch their prey.

"Doctor! You better think of something!" Jack strained to hold the doors closed

What neither The Doctor nor The Master realize is this: As the Master began to regenerate, he stood entirely too close to The Doctor's severed hand and, as the energy explodes from his body, it engulfed the jar, reacting with the genetic material held within. The mixing of these two energies backfired spectacularly and The Master was inundated with memories. His own as well as The Doctor's.

**_He remembers._ **

_His days at the Academy._  
Koschei walked the halls of The Academy, lost in his own mind. His thoughts should be on the current project he and Theta were developing for their Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics classes. It was, of course, almost finished. They  _were_  the smartest students in the Academy, regardless of their "extracurricular" activities. (He really would find a way to prove the miniature sun Theta created last week was an accident.)

 _He remembers Theta. His best friend._  
"Theta! You idiot, run!" 18-year-old Koschei tears through the halls of his father's house, laughing loudly as he grabs his shocked friend's hand and drags him out and through the courtyard. They keep running, across the red grasses of the field behind the manor to the silver-tipped trees beyond.

Theta trips, pulling his hand from Koschei's and slamming his side into the nearest tree.

"Ow…" Theta rubs his aching head and ribs as he rolls to his back. His gaze is pulled from those beautiful burnt orange skies when Koschei plops beside him, panting a bit from exertion.

"I don't know why you insist on taunting your tutor, Koschei. It just causes more trouble than it's worth and you always end up getting more lessons in the end."

Koschei grinned at his friend, "Yeah, but it really is worth it to see steam pour from Father's ears when his 'greatest disappointment' surpasses him again. And again. And _again_! Ha!" He giggles like the child he was not so long ago.

Theta grins back at him. "Idiot."

The boys look back to the skies of their home. Each lost in their own dreams and hopes and plans for the future.

 _He remembers the Time War._  
"What the HELL do you think you're doing? Get away from there, Koschei!" The Doctor pulls his friend from the control panel of the TARDIS.

"You can't do this, Theta. You CAN'T! This is gonna kill you. Properly this time! Let  _me_  do it!" The Master never begged. As much as The Master hated The Doctor, Koschei loved Theta because his friend never gave up on him. The Master couldn't fathom where this influx of consciousness came from, but he felt almost  _compelled_  to help. It almost made the sound of the drums quieter.

"The Council are idiots and fools," The Doctor said and turned, ignoring his friend, twisting and turning the controls to begin the necessary launch sequence. “But I’m doing this at the request of the Lady President herself.”

The Master stalked up behind him, fists clenched. "They can't expect you to commit genocide, even it is the Daleks! This goes against everything you are, and don't you  _DARE_  deny it!"

The Master grabbed The Doctor by the shoulders, turning him around to face him, and he froze. His friend, the good one, his guide. His eyes were like frozen stone; cold and unyielding.

"No." The Doctor reached to hold The Master by the wrists, pulling his hands from his shoulders. "I've seen how close you are, old friend. The madness you've held at bay for  _so_   _many_ years. I can't."

He turned back to the controls, but The Master reached to jerk him back around. " _NO!_ Just  _stop…"_

" _You_  stop, Koschei." The Doctor barely had hold of his temper now.

Quietly, The Master straightened and looked the Doctor in the eye, a shield falling across his face. "I'll stop you somehow. You know that, right?" It wasn't really a question.

"You can try." The Doctor started beginning the launch sequence on the TARDIS again. "Leave, Koschei. Leave now."

The Master cocked an eyebrow. "Nope," popping the 'p' in a way that made the Doctor freeze. His friend straightened and faced the time rotor of his beloved ship.

The next thing the Master knew, he was waking up in a field of red grass, his mind aching and his jaw feeling bruised. The sound of The Doctor's TARDIS was just barely fading in the air.

Disbelief.

"He hit me. _That bastard **HIT**  me_!"

The Master and the Doctor didn't see each other again for many, many years. By that time, the madness rooted in the Master's mind had overtaken him. Koschei, the young Time Lord who would have given his life to protect his dearest friend, was long gone the first time he tried to kill the Doctor.

 _He remembers Gallifrey._  
The Council of the Time Lords had resurrected the Master. "The perfect soldier" he had been called.

What did they know?

Sure, he liked to kill. Daleks, especially. But this? This wasn't war. This was a massacre. So, The Master ran.

_The Doctor's mind was overtaken by fire and screams and pleas for help, save me help me no no no no NO don't do this stop them stop them stopthemstopthemstopthem!_

The Doctor did his duty. He used The Moment and burned Gallifrey, locked it in for all of time and beyond.

The once long locks of hair had been shorn in a soldier's cut. Black trousers, boots, and tunic fitted with holsters for weapons of many shapes and sizes.

The Doctor had used those weapons too, and died a little inside with each life he took. Soon, only the cold detachment he'd had to instill in himself kept him from following the Master’s path into insanity.

The soft, poetic, Byron-esque man that had been his Eighth self had been forced into a regeneration when the Time Lord Council demanded he lead their army. He’d been deemed too little like the soldier they needed and was tossed to the wayside for the brusque old man who could do the job.

The War Doctor, they called him.

And now, that old man was gone as well, a regeneration that lasted less than a decade, even as it felt like more than a lifetime.

The Doctor expected to die.

There's no reason why he  _shouldn't_  have died.

The injuries he’d obtained before opening The Moment had ensured he would at least regenerate, but the screams of his people dying, the lights in his mind for each Gallifreyan and Time Lord soul, extinguished one by one, locked that part of him.

He refused to regenerate. 

 _Refused!_  

Let this be the end.

PLEASE!

The fire from the loss of everything he knew became, all too quickly, ice and numbness that swallowed the last of the Time Lords in blackness and nothingness.

dying

pain

Why the hell was he alive?

He should have died with the rest of his people. He was ready for _that_  at least!

Not a new body though. Never that.

But now that the War was over, when the fighter was no longer needed, now he became the hard soldier, leather and big ears, and an emptiness in his mind only soothed by the hum and constant presence of the last TARDIS in existence.

He looked very much the part of the conquering leader.   
The once Lord President of Gallifrey.   
The general of the greatest army of the Seven Systems.   
The Destroyer of Worlds.   


He lost it all as he grasped his head in his hands, fell to his knees in the damaged and burning TARDIS, and screamed until his newly-regenerated throat bled.

  Weeks in the TARDIS' Zero Room gave him time to heal physically, and after a few slightly (but not quite unconsciously) suicidal missions, Her admonishments to Her pilot, Her thief, finally broke through.

Then he met  _her._

Rose Tyler.

Oh, he tried to forget her in the minutes after telling her to run for her life. Should have been easy too. But no. His TARDIS chimed in his head to save her… again.

So, he ran from death again, only seconds away from being blown to bits by the bomb he planted on the roof of Henriks Department Store.

Why couldn't he leave her behind?

 He tried to forget her again after dealing with the mess that was the Nestene Consciousness.

Weeks he traveled.   
Months.  
 Then, years.

The Titanic, Krakatoa, the day Kennedy was assassinated.   
He tried to leave Earth.   
Really!   
He did!   
But his  _precious_  ship was having none of that.

Humans.   
  
Stupid apes.  
Wouldn't know how to properly travel in time if they had a hole in their foreheads.

But… Rose Tyler.

His little pink and yellow human.

When did he fall in love with her?  
From the word "Run"?  
Dickens?  
 Probably really started sinking in with the incident with the Slitheen family.  
  _"I could save the world but lose you."_

Sappy, broken, miserable, old man.

Oh, if the mighty Time Lords could see him now.   
They really  _would_  banish him, but with no chance of repeal this time.   
Ha!

She's dead.  
"Your stupid game  _killed_  her!"  
The only thing keeping me sane and you took that away from me.  
Jack?  
 Help me.  
Avenge her.  
 Stop this madness.  
 Wait… what?  
 JACK!

"SHE'S ALIVE!"

She saved him though, in the end.  
 Oh, so many times.  
 Killed him too, to be honest, but he'd do it again.  
 In a heartsbeart.

 Daleks.  
 Can they never die?  
 … Oh.  
 Rose… you'll burn!

Gut-clenching, mind-numbing, soul-aching fear that she wouldn't want to be with this New Doctor, this new _him._  
Gods, it almost crippled him when she asked him to change back.   
Would she leave him?

No. Not Rose. Never Rose. He'd even put up with her mum's cooking, if that's what it took for her to see he really was the same man.

Still loved her, even though he'd never be able to say it.

"Didn't do domestics, eh? Might be easier this time. Easier with two.  
 No.  
 Easier with her.  
_Better_ with her.

"Tea! That's all I needed! Good cup of tea! Super-heated infusion of free-radicals and tannins, just the thing for healing the synapses..."

"Aww, I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were. You gave up on me. Ooh, that was rude. Is that the kind of man I am now? Am I rude? Rude and not ginger?"

"Blood control? Oh! I haven't seen blood control in years!"

"I challenge you!"

He hears Rose yell. "Doctor!" and tosses the sword to him. "Still the Doctor, am I?"

Pain. "You cut my hand off!"

And things start to fade a bit, greying around the edges of The Master's consciousness as his regeneration literally burns itself out.

"And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky, because quite by chance, I'm still within the first 15 hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I have just enough residual cellular energy to do this."

Ah. So that's where the hand came from. Good job, Doctor.

"Witchcraft?"

"Time Lord."

Then nothing. His mind snaps. His body seizes. Darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

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The Master woke up not long after his regeneration burned out, laying flat out on the grating, fighting back The Doctor's memories that had forced their way into his head.

The jar with the handy bio-matching receptacle has shattered, burned, melted. The handy spare hand had disappeared into dust settling through the holes in the grates on the TARDIS console room floor.

She'll make it a point to clean up later.

This new Master curled into the foetal position, wishing he could crawl into himself and be gone from this life already. He reached shaking hands up, grabbed his head and pulled, as if trying to pull the demons from his very soul. Screamed as it burned and tears flowed down his face. His arms wrapped around his legs and he hugged his knees, crying, then screaming like his soul is lost.

The Doctor started pounding on the doors of his precious ship again - "Master! Master! Open the doors!" - while Jack and Martha still worked desperately to keep out the Future-kind out of the lab.

The Doctor soon realized no sounds were coming from the TARDIS, that it’s not moving, not leaving them at the actual factual End of the Universe. And so, taking a great chance, ran back to Jack and Martha to help close the door, blocking it with now-broken machinery.

"Doctor?" Jack's wide-eyed stare at the TARDIS focuses everyone again.

The Doctor heard the Masters' cries turn hysterical as he started screaming again, high-pitched, extensive, and echoing. The TARDIS - _you brilliant thing you!_ \- managed to release the manual control used to deadlock seal the doors and the Doctor, Jack and Martha rushed in just as the Future-kind managed to start opening the laboratory door.

Jack slammed the doors shut just as the Doctor released the dematerialization lever that took them into the Time Vortex and away to safety. Martha found his old friend/enemy curled up on the floor on the other side of the console, hands raw from beating the grating and pulling at his hair, gibbering in Gallifreyan.

"Theta. Help me. Sorry so sorry. Oh Gods. Never…. Dead! No! Theta, stop it. Stop me. Help me please help me. No more no more no more…"

The Doctor pulled the Master's hands from his head and cradled his body to his chest, rocking him like an infant.

The Master reared back and grabbed The Doctor's head between his hands, still fever-hot from the excess energy he’d just expelled.  

"I see her! She's there, the Golden One. The Lady. She's singing!"

A crazy smile and short laugh shots out, frankly scaring the Doctor when the Master’s gaze is lost in the distance. "Loves Her Doctor. Keeps him safe," he singsongs.

The Master grimaced and curled forward again, but The Doctor grabbed his arms to keep him from hitting the floor. He freezes when he hears whispered, "Keep him safe. Save the world, save you too. Burning!" and pulled The Master back into the safety of his body.

The sound of The Doctor's dual heartbeats seems to calm him.

"Master. Stop this. Stop it! Listen to me, there's no one here. Let me help you!"

The Master began hyperventilating, gasping, head thrown back to see the ceiling of the TARDIS. "The drums! The drums! Louder, louder, _stop it_!" Then, gasped and stilled. "My Lady… my Golden Lady…My Goddess..."

The smile that broke through tears raging down his cheeks was both frightening and beautiful, but his breathing became more shallow and his heartbeats slowed dangerously.

"Master! Hold on now. Come on. Talk to me, Master. Talk to me!" The Doctor shook him a little then switched to Gallifreyan. "Koschei. Please let me help you," and put a cool hand to his old friend's burning cheek.

The Master lowered his gaze to look the Doctor in the eyes, tears still streaming and eyes hot, the madness receding like the tide. "Theta. There you are. She stopped them you know. She stopped drums." He closed his eyes, sighed and smiled. "She stopped them."

He looks back at The Doctor and whisperd in Gallifreyan. "I should have come here first. Should never have run. You ran. I saw it. Across the whole wide universe. And more! Gallifrey … is gone?"

The Doctor nodded shortly.

"I see. Well,  _you_  saw. It was for the best really. Only thing that could have been done."

The Master tucked his head into the Doctor's chest and took a deep breath. He felt his body calm and his mind settle, quiet, for the first time since his days in the Academy.

Before the Untempered Schism.

Before the madness started taking hold.

A beatific smile crossed The Master's face. He looked so young!

And not just this body.

It was as if the weight of all the years he'd suffered had lightened exponentially.

"Oh, you've done such great things, old friend."

The Doctor was confused, as well he should be. "What?"

"Such wonderful things. And the people! Humans! Ha!"

"What?"

The Master sat up quickly, almost smashing his head into The Doctor's chin but caught himself, and grabbed at his shoulders tightly, saying softly. "Oh, the things you've seen!"

He sighed and leaned forward to place his forehead to The Doctor's. "I should have come to you," and blacked out.


	4. Chapter 4

a good way, I promise! (This is my first fic, so take it easy on me, please!)

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As the Master passed out, the Doctor caught him again and settled him on the grating before turning to see Jack and Martha behind him, shocked and amazed.

"Right! Let's get out of here!" and began the manic-Doctor-dance, dematerializing the TARDIS to jump into the Time Vortex and away from the year 100 trillion.

"Doc, what the hell happened here?" Jack was quite clearly over his shock, but his anger over the idea that they may have been left at the end of the universe still burned.

Martha stepped up as well. "He killed Chantho! Who the hell is he?"

The Doctor sighed and rounded the console to his friends to attempt to explain a relationship nine centuries and numerous regenerations old. "He's the Professor Moriarty to my Sherlock Holmes."

Jack snorted, drawing a loud "Oi!" from The Doctor.

"Well, he is!" The Doctor sighed, leaning against the console and watching his old friend's unconscious body.

"We grew up together on Gallifrey,” he started. “Children of Gallifrey were taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. Some said that's where it all began, when he was a child. When the Master saw eternity.” The Doctor sighed and started pacing. “As a novice, he, like the rest of us, was taken for initiation and stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which the whole of the Time Vortex could be seen. We stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space,… just a child!” He stopped and stood staring at the time rotor of his precious ship. “Some would be inspired. Some would run away. And some…,” he glanced at the Master, “some would go mad."

Martha piped up, "What about you?"

The Doctor scoffed, "Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped!"

He stepped over to The Master and crouched to check his pulses. "The Master fled the Time War after he was resurrected by the High Council to fight on the front lines." The Doctor looked to Jack and Martha. "He would have been one of the best, the fiercest soldiers in our military, in fight against the Daleks. But, instead, it was a massacre."

The Doctor moved to the captain's chair and sighed heavily. "The people of Gallifrey, Time Lord or not, were out-numbered at least thirteen to one."

Jack whistled. "Jeez, Doc."

"Yeah. And then it fell to me to end it." He looked to his friends, the pain and grief showing fresh in his dark eyes. "I made Gallifrey burn." He looked to The Master. "I killed all of my people. Doomed them to a never-ending death, time-locked in a war than will never end. Living, fighting, dying, coming back, then doing it all over again."

The Doctor scrubbed his hands over his face. "So, when he ran," he nodded to The Master, "he ended up here. Human, at the end of the universe, and ready to give his life so the rest of the people there could live, could make it to Utopia. Then, we show up."

Suddenly, he bounced away and around the console to the monitor.

Martha gestured to The Master, "Wha’ d'we do now? With him, I mean?"

"I'll need to do some tests, scans to see ... well, just to see." The Doctor walked over to The Master and squatted down to his level. "Wonder what he meant by 'His Golden Lady',” he mused. “... Hmmm..."

"Alright then, up you go!" The Doctor grabbed the Masters' arm and hauled him up.

"Lemme help, Doc," Jack said and grabbed the man's other arm to take him to infirmary.


	5. Chapter 5

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Dozens of scans and several hours later, Jack popped back in.

"Martha's sleeping. Figured you probably hadn't eaten anything, so I brought you a snack," and handed his friend tea and a banana.

The Doctor laughed, "Thanks, Jack."

"So, what did you find?"

A deep breath and a sigh as he removed his glasses to glance at The Master. "Well, that's just it. Nothing TO find." He sipped his tea, stopped, and looked into it. "Oh, that's good, Jack!" and sipped deeper. "Surprise 'round every corner today it seems," he smirked over the rim of his cup.

Jack laughed, "Watch it you. And I'll have you know I learned from the best!" Jack grew quiet, remembering his best friend, (never lover, though not for lack of trying), and almost-sister. "Is she really okay?"

The Doctor looked into his cup and swirled the liquid. "I dunno, Jack. Wish I did." He looked Jack in the eye, almost coldly. "She was almost sucked into the Void that day. Because of Torchwood. Yes, I lost her, but at least she's alive."

Jack gaped at The Doctor who almost laughed at his shocked goldfish impression. "But... how… I mean, What the HELL?"

"Pete, her parallel dad, caught her. Right before she would have gone. Took her away and saved her. He did what I couldn't." He finished his tea and put his cup down, turning back to the readings on the screen.

"That’s it? Did you even TRY to get her back?" Jack got angry. He knew his friends better than that, but this new Doctor… Well, the Doctor had abandoned Jack once before.

"Yes, Jack, of course I did. I actually spent the better part of a year searching for some way of getting through to her, but the gap was too small. I had to burn up a sun just to get enough energy to say goodbye." He swallowed past the large mountain in his throat. "Wasted time and couldn't even tell her..."

Jack put a hand on his shoulder. "She knows. You have to know that."

"SHE told ME though. Said what I couldn't."

Another hand grabbed his, squeezed hard. The Master. "She knew, old friend. Your Lady Rose."

The Doctor jerked away, full Oncoming Storm on his face. "How do you know her name?"

The Master dropped his hand, sighed, and turned back to stare at ceiling. "The Golden Lady sings and stops the drums, Doctor. She quiets the night and bring light in the day. Her songs unravel worlds and brings life." He looked at Jack. "You should know this better than anyone, Captain."

The Doctor and Jack were silent, pale, a little sick, and a lot in shock.

In Gallifreyan, The Master said, "She's never really gone, Theta. She did promise you forever after all."

"How, Koschei? How do you know all this?" The Doctor whispered.

And so, for the first time in so many lifetimes, The Master explained clearly, truthfully, and with no ulterior motives exactly what he knew.


	6. Chapter 6

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The Master sat up and forward, throwing his legs over the side of the infirmary cot and sighing heavily. He scrubbed his hands across his face and dropped his arms and gaze to his lap.

"It started back on Gallifrey. Oh, so many years ago," he smiled thoughtfully and said, "You were right, Doctor."

The Doctor cocked his infamous eyebrow, encouraging him to go on.

"You were right to try to stop me all those years. The madness in me, the burning, the  _drums_..., " he grabbed at his head. "It never stopped, never once, in all that time. Not  _once._ "

He sighed again and turned his face to the ceiling. "Then, the war came, and I was at The Cruciform, defending Gallifrey." He barked out a short laugh. "For what it was worth by then. And then…. Then, _She_  came."

The Master's eyes glazed over as he remembered. "She burned like the sun, Doctor."

He missed The Doctor pale and tense.

"For a few minutes, a few blessed, quiet,  _golden_  minutes, it stopped. Time stopped. And She was there. I heard singing, Doctor. I heard Her Song. I saw The Cruciform fall, Gallifrey burn, you… I saw you, old friend. You would have died, too, and everything would have been lost. Gone. Dust."

He reached out for The Doctor's hand and held it like an anchor before twining the other’s fingers in his own.

"I saw Her save you," the Master whispered and looked The Doctor in the eye, deep into him. "She kissed you and saved you, saved us all," and looked down to their joined hands.

"And then I was back on The Cruciform, explosions all around me frozen in time, so many of our old friends and classmates and family fighting, dying,  _regenerating_  only to die before the change could be completed. She never  _said_  anything, but I  _heard_  Her. That beautiful, timeless voice."

He glanced back at The Doctor, who stood frozen and transfixed. "You know the one.  _That_  voice."

The Doctor just nodded once, slowly.

"She said one word. Just one. _'Run_.' And I did. Time moved again and I fell to my knees. Just barely missed being exterminated."

The Doctor loosed a rough chuckle at 'Run' but flinched at 'exterminated'. The Master dropped his hand.

"Found a battle TARDIS, ran, crashed on the Silver Devastation, and managed to cannibalize the Chameleon Arch before the change could take me, to make myself human. I regenerated into a mere child then, was lost, with no memory, no TARDIS, nothing but the fob watch. I kept running, too, because even then the drums never stopped. Occasionally, I'd hear that word ring in me, _'Run!'_ and I'd be off again. Saved my life too many times to count."

The Master straightened and slowly climbed off the bed. "And the rest is, shall we say, history," he smirked.

He reached a hand out to grasp The Doctor's bicep. "So, thank you, Doctor," and hugged the man fiercely. "Thank you for everything.” The Master released the Doctor and stepped back, smiling. “Sleep sounds good now, especially after today. So, good night."

He walked past the Doctor and Jack, who stood silent at the infirmary door, and quietly down the hall.


	7. Chapter 7

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"Absolutely amazing, really! Should have tried this _centuries_ ago!" The Master laughed uproariously, but sobered quickly. "Sorry again, old friend. It took all of this to help me see clearly. And your memories in my head... how did you manage not to kill me, all those chances you had?"

The Doctor smiled at him, pleased at his reaction to the banana cream pie he’d found in the kitchen and Jack's now empty bottle of hypervodka. "You were my friend once. I'm not about to kill someone because they tried to kill me. Be no one left!" The Doctor smiled.

Jack snorted from his position facedown on the tabletop. "Understatement of the year, that is."

Laughter poured from the kitchen in warm, rolling waves.

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Days later, the Master saw Martha in the hallway and was immediately swamped with guilt. "Martha. I'm so sorry. For everything."

"You killed her," Martha accused, not willing to forgive the murderer in front of her.

He winced, "And I'll live with her death, and countless others, for the rest of my lives."

Martha nodded, "Good." She walked away without another word, debating on asking the Doctor to take her home for a few days.

The Master sighed and made his way to find the Doctor, locating him in the library. His old friend reclined on a large, plush, emerald green sofa, feeding a pair of ducks that were swimming in the pool, and reading _The Evolution of Sentient Gelatin_.

"Your reading material leaves something to be desired," he laughs.

The Doctor looked up and tossed the rest of the muffin to the ducks. "How're you feeling today? Any pain, dizziness, nausea… psychotic breaks from this form of reality?"

The Master laughed and sat at the other end of the couch, facing The Doctor. "No, no, none of that."

There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes, before the Master couldn't hold back any longer. "I want to help you."

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow. "Help me? Do what, exactly?" Suspicion colored his voice thickly.

The Master sighed and sat forward, hands clasped between his knees. "I heard you telling Jack about Canary Wharf," he began carefully and watched as The Doctor sat back carefully.

The TARDIS quickly moved the pool away, replacing it with a crackling fireplace.

"I think I know of a way to get her back. If you want her, that is." The Doctor stared at him and said nothing, but The Master hurried on. "I mean, it's gonna take a hell of a lot of work and research and it might fail, but it's worth a shot right?"

He stopped and the Doctor continued staring at him, saying nothing.

"I'll make sure it's safe," he whispered. "No universe collapsing, I promise. You need her more than you're willing to admit and I'll bet my lives that she needs you, too. You can't keep going like this or you're going to die. I have to do something.  _Anything_  to help you see that." Nothing. " _Say something_!"

The Doctor turned his head to stare into the flames.

The Master just sat there watching him, then growled as he stood. "I’m… sorry," and turned away. "I shouldn't have mentioned it," and made to walk out of the library.

"Thank you."

The Master stopped and turned back to The Doctor.

He looked so broken.   
Lost.

The Doctor turned hollow eyes to the man he once called brother of his hearts, the man who’d also tried to kill him and enslave the universe so many times.

The man offering to help him attempt something so dangerous, so mind-numbingly awesome... "It's impossible."

The Master smiled slightly. "Your definition of the word…," he shook his head and walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

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In the months and years that passed, The Master continued to accompany the Doctor in the TARDIS, and the more time that passed, he became less “Master” and more “Koschei”. At the same time, he saw companions come and go, taking a piece of his old friend with him each time they left, were forced to go, or were taken.

Each time, he saw the Doctor become less and less himself. More hollow. He was afraid for his friend and knew this lack of hope couldn't last forever.

He rarely accompanied The Doctor on his little "missions" anymore, but he helped when help was needed, and celebrated when celebration was called for.

In all that time, he plotted. Not domination or death, but something infinitely more formidable.

His equations and tests and theories must stand under even microscopic scrutiny. He would not risk the Doctor or Rose, he would accept any liability and would plan for any contingency.

Finally, after collapsing from exhaustion one too many times, he ended up in the infirmary again. The Doctor hovered over him as he regained consciousness.

"You have to stop this. All these years, you've done nothing but help me, but you've got to stop this." The Doctor helped him sit upright.

"But..."

"No!" The Doctor ran his hands through his hair. "Just... don't," he sighed "It's been over 62 years since I lost her! Time travels faster in the parallel universe. One year here is three there. It's been 186 years, Koschei." The Doctor crumbled and leaned back, bracing himself on the TARDIS walls. "She's dead by now," he choked out.

"No."

The Doctor looked at his friend.

"No. I'm not quitting! I'm so close."

"Then, I'm sorry, but I have to stop you. Again." The Doctor pulled a prepared syringe from hip pocket and advanced on Koschei.

"NO!" He struck out, hitting the arm with the syringe and knocking the Doctor to the floor. His friend didn't move.

"Doctor?" He jumped down from the bed. "Doctor!"

Koschei turned him over and saw the syringe stuck awkwardly into the Doctor's abdomen, the plunger fully depressed. He yanked the offending item out and checked his pulses, then released the breath he hadn’t realized he held.

"Sleeping. Thank Rassilon." He picked the Doctor up, moved him to the bed Koschei had just vacated, and left the room, locking the door behind him. Swaying as he walked down the corridor, he made his way to the console room. He needed help.

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Jack sat at his desk looking at the myriad of pictures scattered around the room. More than 100 years had passed since he'd seen many of those familiar faces, but the memories remained as fresh as the day the snapshots were created.

Gwen and Rhys with their daughter, Anwen, grinning up at him at Gwen's 50th birthday party.

Ianto, making coffee and smiling over his shoulder at Jack.

Tosh, smiling lovingly at Owen as he ranted to anyone that would listen about the injustices of having to track Weevils.

Alice and Steven, chasing each other through sprinklers in their backyard.

Many showed Jack posed with politicians and celebrities, some with lovers wrapped around him, all grinning for the whole world to see.

One picture stood out from the rest.

The Doctor, tied at his ankles and hanging like a giant fish, soaking wet with arms crossed at his chest. He was red in the face and yelling at Jack and The Master to cut him down immediately. The Master laid on the boardwalk to the side of Jack, laughing like a maniac at the Oncoming Storm. Jack stood to the side gesturing wildly at his "catch".

Jack laughed to himself, wondering how his friends fared.

His latest team was brilliant, but it never stopped the memories when things were slow. Had been slow, too. Months and months with barely even a spike in the rift. Good thing, too. They all needed a break sometimes.

He looked up to the giant cog door rolling back in the main entrance to the Hub. It had taken years and millions of dollars to rebuild Torchwood Three, but he had done it. Making it better and better as time passed.

Gwen's namesake, and great-granddaughter, strolled in holding a massive cup of coffee in one hand, pressing the other tightly to her temple. "Can you please do something about those damn sirens?" she yelled at him.

He grinned. "Long night?

"Like you wouldn't believe. Well... maybe YOU would." She walked away and to her desk, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like "Damn you, Jack bloody Harkness" in a voice that could have belonged to the original Gwen. He laughed loudly until he heard a series of beeps from his wrist strap, and answered it, still laughing. "Harkness."

The face of The Master showed on the viewscreen. "Jack. I need you."

Jack smirked. "Oh, I have waited YEARS to hear those words."

The Master sighed and shook his head. "Just let me in."

"Alright, alright." He pressed a series of buttons on the Hub's security console. "Mi casa, and all that"

"Thanks."

The screen went blank and Jack stiffened. "He thanked me...oh, this is bad. GWEN! Incoming TARDIS!"


	9. Chapter 9

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The TARDIS materialized in its usual corner of the Hub, but when the doors didn't open, Jack got worried. He pulled his key from his pocket and went in, finding The Master sitting on the jump seat close to unconscious.

"Koschei! What the hell happened? Where's the Doctor?"

Koschei laughed. "You said my name. _Must_ be love." He groaned, sitting up. "Just tired. The Doctor's in the infirmary." He held up a hand, staying Jack's alarm. "He's fine. Sleeping."

"I think you should tell me exactly what happened here," and crossed his arms over his chest in typical Jack Harkness style.

"And you're right because I need your help."

Koschei told Jack about his plan to access the parallel universe to get to Rose. To get her back for the Doctor.

"He doesn't see it, Jack. One of the smartest men I have EVER known, and I've known my fair share, but he can't see what's right under his nose."

Jack interrupted, "They need each other."

"Yes, but it's more than that."

"Figures. Usually is with those two." Jack smirked and Koschei chuckled.

"Yeah, it is. Jack, do you remember Bad Wolf?" He watched Jack pale and jerk back. "I'll take that as yes since, in your condition, it would be hard not to." He straightened and stood, swayed again and waved off Jack's offer of a supporting hand, stumbled to the console and laid a hand on it.

"It's taken me all these years to figure it out. I have the equations and variables worked out. Even had the TARDIS help me with some so I wouldn't chance hurting Her." He stroked the console and rotor. "The one thing I could never find is the right universe." He shrugged, "Would have worked on it forever, but I passed out." Koschei grimaced. "Exhaustion, you know, is something even Time Lords are not immune to."

Jack snorted, nodding and remembering several times he'd found The Doctor passed out under the console, sonic screwdriver in his mouth, lose wires in each hand, and soft snores coming from his friend.

"I must have been dreaming. I had to have been because I haven't seen her in so long. It's the only way I would have NOT brushed it aside."

"Who?"

"Bad Wolf." Koschei smiled. "My Golden Goddess. My Lady of Time." He continued to absently stroke the time rotor.

"I used the energy signature from the TARDIS and the Time Vortex, added in Rose's own unique biochemical makeup to find what  _shouldn't_  be. And it worked, Jack. Not only did I  _find_  the right universe, I found  _Rose_. I can track her any _where_ , any _when_ , across time and space in  _every_ universe." His voice dropped to almost a whisper. "She's still alive Jack."

"Impossible," Jack countered.

Koschei laughed. "Between you and The Doctor, that word means nothing!"

"Well, this is great. Fantastic and absolutely brilliant!"

Jack jumped up and grabbed Koschei into a swinging hug, pounding each other on the back before pulling back and kissing Koschei full on the mouth. Jack barely had time to realize Koschei wasn't stopping him before Koschei pulled back and said, "This is where I need your help to make things right."

He walked around the console to show Jack the monitor. "Not enough power. Can't go around exploding stars without consequence."

Jack watched him warily. "How much power?"

"I need the Rift."

"WHAT?"

Koschei cocked an eyebrow. "I need. The Rift. More specifically, I need to harness all the power of the Rift, wide open. I can channel it through the TARDIS, powering her up for a complete, and SAFE, jump through to the other universe. She can stabilize the jump window for as long as it takes to get her back to him." He looked back at the monitor. "Shouldn't take more than a day or two."

"What about this world? Open Rift means more baddies and I can't risk that. Even for Rose Tyler."

"That's the good thing! No "baddies", as you called them. The Rift will be tethered to the TARDIS and nothing will come or go without Her knowledge or intervention. Completely safe!"

Jack hesitated for 2.3594 seconds, forever in the eyes of the Time Lord in front of him.

Jack nodded. "Let's do it."

"YES! Thank you, Jack!" Koschei jumped, grabbed the immortal man and kissed him again, once, quickly. "I owe you for this, more than you can possibly know."

A bit dazed, Jack nodded. "Yeah. You do. Now," Jack clapped his hands together, rubbing them excitedly. "Where's the Doctor? We gotta tell 'em!"

Koschei rubbed the back of his neck and blushed, stammered. "Yeeaah... He's not gonna be ... involved in this."

This time Jack cocked his eyebrow. "And why not?"

"I um... I... kinda...," his voice dropped and he muttered. "druggedhimandnowhe'sunconsciousintheinfirmary."

Jack surprised them both when he burst out laughing. And laughing. And laughing. Until his sides began to ache and tears streamed from his eyes. Koschei even giggled along with him.

"Oooh! This is gonna be great." He swiped his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself, barely able to contain the giggles.

"Phew!" he laughed. "Alright then. Let's go."


	10. Chapter 10

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It took the pair slightly under two weeks to configure the Rift manipulators in the Hub to allow the energy they planned to release to be safely channeled into and through the TARDIS.

Koschei considered setting the Doctor up on a IV of sedatives, liquids, and nutrients to ensure his idiot friend didn't dehydrate or starve while he and Jack worked, but the TARDIS intervened.

Jack examined the print out She had provided and had to admit it was an awfully good plan. Koschei was embarrassed he hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Instead of drugs, they’d simply place the Doctor in the Zero Room, negating psychic influence and allowing the TARDIS to influence the Doctor’s continued (enforced) rest.

"He needs the rest anyway.” And that was that.

Once everything was calibrated and connected, Koschei moved the TARDIS to the jump site in the center of the Wales Millennium Centre. The only thing left to do was flip a few switches to power up the converters, input the coordinates, and allow the TARDIS to do the rest.

Koschei waited outside the TARDIS for Jack who walked up with his rucksack and a smile, showing how excited he really was and completely eclipsing Koschei’s fear.

"I'm scared, Jack. Really, truly, and properly scared. What if she doesn't want to come back? She could have a family now! Who am I to take that from her, even for the Doctor? What if she hates him for not coming sooner, or even coming himself? Oh gods, what if she's  _really_  dead?"

Koschei groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands before threading his fingers into his hair and pulling. "I should have thought of this! I have  _some_  of his memories but nothing of his after his hand was severed." He dropped his hands and paled, then whispered. "I could ruin everything."

Jack stopped him before he could go further. "No. Koschei, listen. She promised him forever. We have to give her the choice." He gestured to the TARDIS. "He's in the Zero Room, right?"

"Yeah," he said softly.

"Alright then. He can stay there 'til we're done and then, once we’re back, we can figure out what to tell him and when." Jack opened the TARDIS door and propelled his friend inside. "Let's boogey!"

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Jack called Gwen from the TARDIS console. "Alright, Gwen. Activate the Rift manipulator."

"Good luck, Jack, and get back safe."

The screen blacked out before he could reply and power suddenly flooded the TARDIS console room. The light grew so bright it hurt to look anywhere but down.

Koschei reached for the console, swore when it burned his hand, and slammed down the lever to begin dematerialization and the flight toward the open Rift window.

Jack thought it was quite possibly the smoothest ride he'd ever encountered in all of his TARDIS travels. Not a modicum of shaking, tossing, turning, sparking, explosions, or even slightly unsteady footing could be detected. So, when the lighting returned to normal, Jack and Koschei looked to each other, feeling their failure as a deep pain in their souls and written on their faces.

A light ping indicated they had landed.

The monitor showed they were still at the Wales Millennium Centre and the clock on Jack's wrist strap matched perfectly with the one on the TARDIS console.

Nothing had changed.

"ARG! NO! This wasn't supposed to happen! This was _supposed_ to work!" Koschei raged, kicking and screaming until he broke down, crying. "This was supposed to _work_ , Jack. _I_ was supposed to help  _him_  for once. Fix something beautiful."

Jack just held him until he calmed.

"I've got a bottle of hypervodka in my desk with our names on it. Let's go have a drink or twelve, then we can come back, wake up the Doctor, and ... well, we'll go from there."

Koschei whispered, "He'll never forgive me." He turned away to stare at the time rotor. "I'm leaving, Jack. I just can’t… I can’t anymore."

"What? You can't just _leave_! You're all he has left!"

Koschei turned sorrowful eyes on his friend. "He has you. Always will," then stood and walked out the TARDIS doors toward the Hub.

Jack sighed and scrubbed his face before grabbing his rucksack and following Koschei, pulling the doors closed behind him.

And ran straight into the Time Lord, knocking both of them to the ground.

It took Jack a moment to realize they had an inordinately large number of guns trained on them, but was very happy his stumble didn't cause some newbie in the bunch to get a little too trigger happy.

So, Jack being Jack, flashed his trademark grin and followed it with a quick. "Hi there! Captain Jack Harkness. Are you are…?"

No one answered but each remained on alert as Jack and Koschei were hauled to their feet and restrained.

"State your names and intentions."

Jack smiled again. "Well, like I said, my name is Captain Jack Harkness and this," he motioned to Koschei, "is my partner-in-life, Adam Smith." To his credit, Koschei didn't make even the slightest motion to disagree, but raised his head slightly as if daring anyone to challenge him.

Jack continued, "We're here searching for someone we love. She's practically our sister-in-law and we've been looking for a REALLY long time."

Nothing else was said as the two were dragged across The Plaza center and, surprisingly, gently placed into a large blue SUV.

Jack tried numerous times to engage one of the soldiers in conversation, but failed to their silent treatment each time.

Koschei reach for Jack's hand, the picture of the concerned lover.

 _I don't think you'll get much from them._  Koschei tossed into Jack's head, which subsequently made him jerk to stare at Koschei.

 _WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HEAD AND HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IN THERE?!_  Jack screamed.

Koschei winced at the volume.  _The TARDIS is safe. We're not dead. They don't know us._  He looked pointedly at Jack.  _They don't know YOU. Think about it. Could we really have made it?_

 _... makes sense._  Jack looked out the window to the sky around Cardiff.

Air ships.

He grinned.  _Oh yeah. We made it._

Jack tried one last thing. "Oi mate! What's the date if you don't mind?

The driver looked at him through the rearview mirror as if he'd just escaped the loony bin. "15th March."

Jack muttered, "Beware the Ides of March..."

Koschei snorted.

"And the year?"

"What's wrong with your head man? 15th March. 2681."

Both men paled. "No way."


	11. Chapter 11

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The blonde behind the desk was ready to murder someone. Anyone. The reports she tossed down showed a steady rise in the performance of their latest terra-former, but sabotage had destroyed a number of power couplings at the colony on Calais Prime in the Kasterborous constellation. A team would have to be sent out immediately.

"Director?" Her attendant poked his head through the door of her office.

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in an effort to will away the headache she knew was coming. Days like this... "What, Patrick?"

"Alpha-Six has apprehended two male suspects in the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. They claim to be searching for their long lost sister-in-law."

She cocked a dark eyebrow and aimed a pointed chocolate stare at him. "And? Let them look." She turned back to her paperwork. Budgets be damned, Allie's theories into the Holtzman Effect could very well work in practical application. The Director had no problem authorizing use of  _Voyager 7_  for the initial flight test once the prototype was finished.

Patrick stepped fully into the Director's office and cleared his throat. "Yes, ma'am. But, there's a problem."

She folded her arms across her chest (inadvertently giving Patrick a great view), leaned back into her chair and waited.

"One of the suspects said his name was...," he consulted the note in his hand, "... Captain Jack Harkness. They came out of a blue Police box, ma'am. The system alerted us and they're on their way here."

The woman at the desk froze, then stood as nonchalantly as she could manage, her hands curling into fists and short nails digging into her palms. She whispered, "Two of them?"

"Yes ma'am."

"ETA."

"20 minutes, ma'am."

"Take them to Sector 14 immediately." She rose, pointed at him and said very firmly, "No one speaks to them. No one touches them. No one approaches them when they arrive. And God help anyone that harms them.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll see to it personally." He left her office immediately to arrange her demands, never once questioning her orders.

Rose Tyler could be a hard-ass but she was a damn good boss.

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Once Jack and Koschei were situated in a very austere conference room, they were (as ordered) left alone. No one would speak to them or even acknowledge they existed.  _No one_  was willing to risk the Director's cool wrath.

"669 years, Jack. They won't have a  _clue_  who she is...  _Was...,_ " Koschei whispered. "Hell, I'm just under 1400 myself and I can barely remember who  _I_  am half the time."

Jack sat back and grinned. "Hey, don't sweat it. Just had my own 2175th birthday last week and I'm still lookin' good!"

Koschei looked shocked at Jack's latest revelation, then laughed long and hard. "Thank Rassilon there's not another Jack Harkness. The universe couldn't take it... well, OUR universe couldn't..." He laughed again when Jack just kept grinning.

Three hours later, food and water were placed on the table by this universe's version of Ianto. Jack's heart clinched when he walked in with the tray and didn't spare him a glance.

"Gentlemen. You will be detained here until such time as the Director sees fit to release you. At this time, you have committed no crimes. However, you will be questioned. Please, enjoy your refreshments."

Jack felt the name "Ianto" slip from bloodless lips.

The boy – _man_ – stopped on his way out the door. Turned. "Yes, sir." Jack flinched. "My name is Ianto. How you know that, I can only imagine. However, do not feel you are welcome to use it. Good day." And left the room.

"Jack."

He stared at the closed door as if it would magically reopen and his Ianto would come rushing back into his arms.

"Jack." He felt Koschei place a cool hand on his shoulder. "It's not him."

"I know." Jack gulped. "I know"

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Two hours later, the door was unlocked and a blonde in a smart black and blue-pinstriped jacket and skirt combo strode into the room. Jack took one look and was across the room with his arms around her, grinning wildly and swinging her happily around. Until he felt the barrel of the gun pressed to his stomach.

"Release me, sir."

He looked down to the small, but very lethal, barrel and back up to her, releasing her slowly. Koschei grabbed for his hand to pull him further back.

"But... Rose... It's me. Jack!"

"Yes, sir. I am aware of your name." Without taking her eyes off Jack, she backed away toward the door. "Yours too, Mr. Smith."

She looked between Koschei and Jack, saw their pale faces and shaken forms, heard the stuttered breathing, and ALMOST wished she could comfort them herself.

However, duty must...

"Mr. Harkness. Mr. Smith. My name IS Rose Tyler..." Jack and Koschei's grins were blinding but quickly extinguished. "... but I am not YOUR Rose Tyler. Your Rose Tyler is my many times great-grandmother."

"So, she really is dead?" 'Adam Smith' breathed.

Mrs. Tyler smiled. "Are you her Doctor?"

He winced. "No, but I know where he is."

"So, _he’s_ still alive I see." She nodded. "You will come with me." She holstered her weapon and walked from the room.

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"You know, no matter how this turns out, he’s going to be so mad." Koschei mused

"Yeah. Probably. But maybe he’ll be more happy than mad?"

"Yeah. No, I doubt that. "

"He's gonna be  _so_ mad." Jack grinned.

"Yeah.”

Mrs. Tyler overheard the conversation and interjected with a haughty "Men," at their sighs. "Here we are gentlemen. Albion Hospital. Come with me."

Jack started at the name, remembering nano-genes, a child in a gas mask, dancing in front of Ben Big, and a Doctor with big ears, a leather jacket, and chip on his shoulder the size of Jack's own ego.

Mrs. Tyler walked through the hospital hallways, speaking to no one, until she reached the only occupied room on the third floor.

"Captain. Mr. Smith. I believe what you seek is in here."

Jack stared into the eyes of a woman so like his Rosie it frightened him, but the thought of what lay behind that door pulled him forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Holtzman effect is a fictional scientific phenomenon in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, beginning with the 1965 novel Dune. The effect is never explained in detail, but it makes (among other things) defensive force shields and instantaneous space travel possible.


	12. Chapter 12

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They're early, she thought, laying her cheek on her knees and looking out the only window in the room. Her light ginger-brown locks fell thick and wavy down her side to curl around her hips and legs.

She heard a gasp and closed her eyes to try to block it all out.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said, in a voice so rarely used it croaked, and continued to repeat the few sentences anyone ever really heard from this mystery woman. "He'll come for me soon and I plan on being here so he knows I didn't wander off. Again"

She heard footsteps shuffle unsteadily towards her and gasping breaths.

Tears? She laughed to herself and gazed out the window again, hoping and wishing she could fly out to those stars she knew so well.

Jack approached the figure huddled on the floor slowly and heard her humming something... Something familiar... Why did he know that tune... Why... Oh! Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade".

A grin blossomed on his handsome face and he knelt down beside the girl that held his heart in her delicate, pale hands. He touched her arm, took a deep breath and said, "Hello, beautiful. You know, I still love that shirt. How 'bout another dance?"

She stopped humming. Stopped moving, breathing, thinking.

"That's not funny." Tears on her cheeks. "Whoever you are stop it. Just stop."

"Oh, Rosie. Please don't cry. I could never stand it when you cried."

She slowly turned her head, eyes closed. "You better be there when I open my eyes, Jack Harkness. You'd  _better_  be there."

He reached out to cup her face, leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Never leaving you again."

And was knocked arse over tea kettle when she plowed into him, arms in a stranglehold around his neck and legs wrapped around his hips. The dam broke for both of them and they cried until the smiles and hugs were all that was left.

"Jack.  _My_  Jack." She hugged him again burying her face in his chest. "How're you here? it's 'impossible', remember?" She pulled back to stare horrified at him. "Oh god! Please, don't leave me!"

"Hey! I'm not leaving you. Told you that already. As for how... Well, that was him." He pointed over his shoulder to Koschei who had fallen to his knees at the confirmation Rose Tyler, the _proper_ Rose Tyler was still alive. He buried his face in his hands and silently begged anyone,  _anything,_ listening to let this not be a dream. Please, let this be real.

A hand on his head had him raising his eyes to the woman that haunted him for so many years and was the key to The Doctor's well-being.

 _Hello, Koschei._  He saw the golden light sparkle in her eyes before she crouched down to see him at eye level. A flash.  _You've done so well. Thank you for protecting him when I could not._

He cried out and threw his arms around this amazing woman.

Rose Tyler looked out the doorway to her granddaughter, seeing her truly for the first time in years. She smiled. "My Rose."

"Hello, Grandmother," and returned the affection in her greeting. "I believe you should return with Captain Harkness and 'Mr. Smith'. He is waiting after all."

Rose pulled Koschei from her and hugged her grandchild. "I love you so much," she whispered fiercely. "You've done so well. Thank you for helping me with this burden."

Mrs. Tyler smiled again, handed Rose the keys to the SUV, along with a bag holding the remains of Rose's original belongings. As she lead them outside, she noticed her grandmother never once released either man's hand.

Once outside, Rose took one look at the vehicle and burst out laughing. Confused, her companions looked at her.

She pointed, "TARDIS blue!" and garnered a side-splitting laugh from Jack and Koschei.

Mrs. Tyler rolled her eyes again, grinning at the trio. "Time travelers..."


	13. Chapter 13

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Back in Cardiff, Rose, Jack, and Koschei made their farewells to Rose's granddaughter and made their way to the TARDIS waiting patiently for them.

Rose stopped and stared. "She's really here, isn't she," and ran to the 'Police Box'. She placed a shaking hand on the outside panel and heard the jingling chimes of pleasure in her head. Rose laughed and made to pull out her key, when both doors flew opened on their own, welcoming her home finally. Neither Jack nor Koschei had ever seen this happen before, not even for the Doctor, and stood there in shock as Rose rushed in and grabbed one of the coral struts in a huge hug.

Rose whipped around to her men and demanded. "Where is he? Where's the Doctor?" She looked frantically around the room, peering into shadows and underneath the console where he would normally be tinkering.

Jack rubbed his neck, obviously a bit more than uncomfortable. "Yeeeaaah... um. See... the thing is..."

Koschei interrupted. "Hedoesn'tknowyou'rehere!"

She turned to him, pale. "Why?" she whispered. "Doesn't he want me here?"

Koschei hurried to reassure her, "Oh yes! Yes, of course he does!"

He quickly explained how he had finally worked it out to get here but, since so much time had passed, the Doctor had given up hope, thinking she was dead.

"He tried to stop me but... Well... I stopped him." Koschei turned away carding his hands through his hair in a move so reminiscent of his friend before he wheeled back to Rose. "He was gonna drug me. Put me to sleep and leave me somewhere, toss me out of the airlock, who knows. But, I ... sorta… attacked him before he could get too close. Drugged him with his own concoction," he grimaced.

"He's been unconscious in the Zero Room for about 2 weeks now," Jack supplied.

"Take me to him," Rose said in a voice that wasn't all there.

In the infirmary, Rose stroked The Doctor's hair from his face, laid her hands on his chest to feel the reassuring thump of his two hearts, and put her head on his shoulder.

"Doctor. My Doctor. I'm here. I'm here. I love you," she whisper-sang to him. "I'm staying here tonight. You two go sleep as well and we'll talk tomorrow."

"Alright, Rosie." Jack hugged her tightly. "I am  _so_  glad you're home."

"Yeah," she smiled, tongue between teeth in that infamous smile. "Me too."

Koschei interjected from the doorway, "I'll just go get us back to our universe. Sleep well, Rose Tyler."

"You too. And thank you again. I owe you more than you know."

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Once the TARDIS and her inhabitants were safely back in their universe, only five and a half hours had passed. She cut the feed from the Rift and allowed the multi-dimensional corridor to close safely.

A quick peek showed all sleeping peacefully, Her pilot wrapped in the arms of his love.

Had the TARDIS a corporeal body, She would have been dancing gleefully around Her console.


	14. Chapter 14

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The Doctor woke the next "morning" as if someone had thrown a pail of cold water in his face.

He'd had the most wonderful dream.

Rose was home and in his bed, sleeping as if she hadn't a care in the world.

He grimaced and made his way to his en suite bathroom. While showering, he argued with his rather magnificent Time Lord brain that he could NOT have been asleep for more than 2 weeks. But his internal chronometer was never wrong.

"I'm going to kill him," he growled. "Finally put him out of my misery." Then, quickly dressed and stalked to the console room.

"Koschei!" he screamed. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Koschei was woken, from a very pleasant dream thank you very much, to the sound of his door being kicked open by a very angry Oncoming Storm. He gulped and tried to scoot across the bed, one palm up in front of him as if to either attempt to calm his friend or ward him off. Both, if he was honest with himself.

"Now, Theta, I can explain...," was as far as Koschei got before the other man wrapped his hand around his neck, dragged him from his bed, and slammed him against the wall.

"What were you thinking? What did you  _do_?!"

The Doctor didn't hear the scared gasp, the patter of feet running to his side, and barely registered the attempt to pull his hands from the other Time Lord's neck.

"Doctor, stop! Let him go! He was only trying to help us!"

"NO! He betrayed me! He knew getting you back is impossible. You're  _stuck_  in that other universe. YOU'RE  _DEAD_!" He sobbed then, his grip slackening, pulling Koschei to him in a desperate embrace. "She's dead, Koschei. She's gone. My Rose is gone."

Koschei pulled The Doctor's arms from around him and turned him around as Rose reached for him.

"I'm here my Doctor," she reached a hand to his face. "I'm here."

His tears subsided enough to allow him to see the woman in front of him and he moved to hold her hand to his cheek. "Are you really? You're not a dream, going to disappear when I wake up, like you always do?"

She smiled that precious tongue-in-teeth smile and giggled. "Daft old Time Lord," and kissed him the way she had dreamed for the last six hundred plus years.

He sobbed against her lips, pulling her to his chest, holding her so tightly. He broke away, all to quickly to her liking, just to look at her again. "My Rose," and dove down for more of her sweet taste.

Koschei cleared his throat behind them.

The Doctor growled against Rose's mouth at the interruption, drawing a bit of a sweet, deep moan from her when he pulled her tighter to him. He decided then and there to get her to make that sound again and as soon as possible.

Koschei cleared his throat again, louder.

The Doctor ripped his mouth from Rose's with a loud, "WHAT?"

"Could you please take this somewhere else? I WAS trying to sleep." He rubbed his bruised throat for emphasis.

Rose laughed and took hold of The Doctor's hand, pulling his attention back to her. "Run!"

He laughed, happy for the first time in years, as they ran out the door.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: NSFW  
> Smutty, smutty, smut-smut. Het sex.   
> (Please forgive me for this because I wrote this AGES ago when I was a newbie to putting thing like this on 'paper'. My bad...)

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The couple barely made it halfway down the hall before The Doctor pulled Rose back to him and kissed the breath from her.

Rose groaned under the onslaught of pressure he managed to put in just the right places. One hand on her hip holding her firmly in place and one hand buried in her hair, he turned and pressed her back against the TARDIS wall as he ravished her mouth.

Rose whimpered against The Doctor's mouth, begging for more more _more_. She raised her leg to wrap it around his waist and felt him grab her knee to secure her hold. She groaned louder when he pulled away, protesting his absence.

"Not in the hallway. I'm not an animal to take you against a wall like this."

"Really? Damn!"

He laughed and pressed his forehead to hers, allowing her leg to slowly drop from his hip. He groaned at the friction and sudden tightness in his slacks.

"Come on."

She laughed. "Oh, I plan to!"

He growled and started running for his door, throwing it open to bang against the wall in his haste.

Two steps into the room, he swept Rose into his arms then over his shoulder before unceremoniously tossing her into the center of his bed. She bounced once, twice, before he was on her, straddling her hips and pressing kisses to her mouth, eyes, cheeks, jawline.

"Rose. My Rose. I missed you so much. Thought I would die so many times without you here."

She gasped when he licked a long path from her cleavage, up her neck to her ear, then bit light on the skin above her jugular. Body stiff with pleasure, she felt his hands roam up her arms and down her sides, busying themselves with lifting her shirt off.

He pulled back and paused, tracing long, cool fingers across the myriad of scars across her torso.

His eyes widened at the three puckered bullet scars centered between her breasts. "Rose..." His horrified gaze lifted to hers.

"Not now. Tell you later," and pulled him back down to her.

She pressed kisses to his mouth, hands in his hair pulling gently but firmly, garnering groans of pleasure from deep in his chest. She managed to pull his jacket off (she loved that jacket), undo his tie (Mmm… plans for later), and started unbuttoning his shirt before he managed to remove her bra.

He sat up, yanking his shirt from his trousers and pulling at the snaps, sending buttons flying around the room.

Rose gasped at his display of impatience, fanning the flames higher, and sat up to help work at the buttons of his trousers.

The Doctor rolled off of his perch above her to stand beside the bed, kicked of his trainers, and dropped his slacks in a few smooth moves.

Rose licked her lips and smiled as her eyes roamed every available inch exposed to her.

Who knew her Doctor went commando?

This beautiful man, with his sparse chest hair scattered across his torso, leading down to an impressive sight. His cock stood to attention at her perusal, curving slightly into his stomach.

Before she could blink, he was in front of her, jerking at the ties of her pajama bottoms, yanking them off and pulling her underwear with them. Now, she was the one exposed for to him to look his fill.

"Absolutely beautiful," he sighed. "My Rose," he whispers, and pulls her to him again. Skin to skin, heat to cool flesh, lips and tongues tangling.

The Doctor pressed kisses from her lips to her neck, drawing a sharp pleasured gasp from her. He grinned against her skin as he moved down, pushing her into the mattress at the same time. His lips and tongue continued down, laving her skin with soft wet kisses.

At the apex of her thighs, he lowered his mouth to the curls between her thighs, and pressed kisses to her heat. Cool, long fingers stroked, feeling her body jerk, twist, and move under his ministrations. He parted her thighs at a particularly sharp cry, separated her folds, and kissed the little bundle of nerves at the apex, pulling it into his mouth and pressing one long cold finger into her heat.

Rose screamed his name, but he refused to slow down or, Gods forbid, stop. Pressing in and out of her warmth, adding another finger, feeling her tighten around him and tasting her essence, his mind now solely concerned with the woman at his mercy. Begging him for more.

He spread her open and licked at her like an ice cream cone, curling his tongue at the top and suckling at her clit as his fingers curled into her heat in a gorgeous ‘come hither’ motion. It hit just the right spot, making her come so hard she saw spots.

Rose sat up enough to grasp one arm and a handful of hair to pull him to her, kissing him with such heat, he was surprised the bed covers didn’t burst into flames. Their tongues twisted and tasted and dueled with each other, feeling and memorizing the shapes of each other's mouths while his fingers continued to dance inside her.

She pulled her Doctor fully on top of her, feeling his erection pulse against her thigh, then rolled him onto his back to straddle his thighs.

She reached between her legs to grasp him, stroking up and down, twisting a bit at the tip, then up and down again.

The Doctor's groan was ripped from his lungs and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as his back arched off the bed.

Rose grinned wickedly with the power she had over this wonderful man.

She leaned down to press kisses to his neck and chest, licking his flat nipples and nibbling the skin around them.

The Doctor felt near to bursting when she moved further down, licking the skin around his belly button. But when she wrapped her lips around the head of his cock and took him into her mouth, his brain stopped.

No thoughts except, "Thank god," while " _Rose,_ " is torn from his slack lips.

Rose bobbed her head over him, tightening her lips and the suction around him, stroking her tongue over the shaft and curling over his cock head, stimulating the edge so just right as she cupped his testicles with just more than a hit of pressure.

He buried his hands in her hair and held her in place to carefully thrust into her mouth, just barely stopping himself from pressing his fingers from her temples. His groans and pants grew louder as she drew him in and held his hips firmly to the mattress.

Oh, she enjoyed hearing those sounds fall from those lips, begging her not to stop, _more please Rose, oh god yes, right_ _there_. So, she was surprised when he yanked her off of him and pulled her mouth back to his. Their lips met fiercely, teeth almost clacking against each other in their haste.

The Doctor rolled Rose over onto her back and spread her knees wide, grabbing one leg to hike it high up over his hip. He leaned over her to kiss her so firm and perfectly, and pressing his forehead to hers, said "My Rose. Forever," knowing what that word meant to her.

"Forever, my Doctor," she replied. A sweet kiss and he nudged at her center. Slowly, so slowly, he inched into her, taking his time to feel every nuance of her body.

Rose gasped at the intrusion and begged for more. _Please, Doctor, more, oh god yes don't stop. Please oh god yes. Yes!_

An eternity later, he buried himself in her completely. She marveled at the sensation of finally having her Doctor where she'd wanted him for so long, at the fullness and gorgeous pleasure/pain of it.

The Doctor strained to maintain his control when her body tightened around his cock even more, her warmth and wetness driving him to insanity.

The Doctor pulled out of her just a few inches, drove back into her firmly, amazed at the feeling of having his Rose wrapped around him.

She couldn’t contain her cries when he began moving inside her. So, so slowly at first, the passionate fires starting to consume her. Rose arched her chest into his as her hips, jerk into his powerful thrusts, legs pulling him closer and arms wrapped around his torso, leaving welts down his back.

A few more thrusts into her warmth and heat and tightness, and the Doctor's control snapped when Rose again dragged her nails down his back, ran an errant foot up the back of his thigh.

Her Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, leaned forward over her and pulls one of her nipples into his mouth drawing on it firmly. His hips pistoning into hers, pounding himself into her and drawing out mewling incoherent cries from the stimulation. He pants above her, growling at the force, and calling her name as if it were his personal mantra.

Rose can feel a tidal wave building inside her when he speeds up.

The Doctor leaned up and back, pushed down on her thighs to spread her wider and grinding into her sex. Thrusting harder, deeper, and faster, one... two... three... four... and she's drowning in it. Screaming his name as she comes apart around him.

The Doctor cried out as internal muscles clamp down on his cock and pulse around him, Rose’s body arched into him and shaking with the force of her orgasm. He pulls her leg around his hips again and leans over her, thrusting once... twice... and he's gone. His soul spilling into her as he erupts. "Rose, Rose, oh gods, Rose"

She's coming down from the fiercest orgasm of her life and can feel him pulsing inside her, in her deepest, now aching, areas.

His breath was hot on her skin and she could feel him trembling, trying to hold himself over her, to keep himself from dropping all his weight onto her.

Rose loosened her legs from their grip around his thighs, but doesn't allow her legs to fall. She gathers him to her breast, pulling him down and stroking his hair and back while both try to remember how to properly breathe.

She can feel both of his galloping heartbeats pounding in her breast and doesn't realize she's crying until her Doctor, her wonderful Doctor, lifts his head to look at her.

He thinks he's hurt her, scared her, her tears confirm it in his mind. The shattered look on his face has her dragging her hand to his cheek and pulling his face down for a kiss so sweet.

Her breath ghosts on his lips and she whispers, "I love you." Kisses the corner of his mouth. "I love you." Kisses his chin. "I love you." And repeats her declaration after pressing her lips to his any part of him she can reach.

The Doctor released a breath he didn't know he was holding, a wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Never got to say it, did I?"

She shakes her head.

"Rose Tyler." He grinned at the feel of her name rolling off his tongue and pushed the hair from her face to look her in the eye. "My light in the dark, my Golden Goddess," he grinned his mad, manic, snarky grin. "My Bad Wolf," he wagged his eyebrows at her, making her laugh. "I love you every day I live and will for the rest of my lives."

A tear falls from her eye and she kisses his nose. "Quite right, too."


	16. Chapter 16

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Jack made his way down the TARDIS halls, shirt opened and trousers barely hanging on hips, yawning and rubbing a hand through his hair. As he turned into the kitchen for a much-needed cup of coffee, he bumped into Koschei.

"Sorry 'bout that," he mumbled and moved to pass the Time Lord.

The next thing he knew Koschei had him pinned to the kitchen wall, snogging the life out of him.

He gasped for breath when Koschei pulled away. "I'm awake! I'm awake!"

"Good." Koschei grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back down the hall to Jack's room.

And the door closed behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's just take it as read that Rose and the Doctor have their talk later and she tell him about everything she's gotten up to over the years.   
> And if I am so inclined, I may write some of them. However, now is not that time.  
> Also, it's about time Jack GETS seduced instead of having to DO the seducing, yaknowwhatimean?


End file.
